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This handsome brick building on the corner of Oak and Broad was constructed in 1906 by Nathan Amster who came to Globe in 1896 from his native Romania where his major interest was in mining. Amster quickly became involved in the growing community when he bonded the Continental Mine west of Globe.
Later he was a consultant for the Arizona Commercial Copper Company at Copper Hills and advanced to its presidency in 1906.Nathan Amster was also instrumental in building the Amster Branch, Amster Station and Amster Junction, a spur line from the Gila Valley, Globe & Northern that ran to the mines in the Copper Hills area.
His two-story building’ on Broad street was a culmination of several investments Nathan Amster made in downtown and was designed to reflect his prominence in the mining industry and Globe community. The fired red brick building was designed in the vernacular Georgian revival style. Large awnings were added to provide cooling. The building was completely renovated thru a historic preservation grant in 1989 and an elevator was added to the outside of the building to preserve the building’s historic status.
The building has served many purposes in it’s 100+ year history including The Lodge, a upper-end restaurant with food and drink for the fine dining of Globe residents. Later Wightman’s Drug Store occupied the ground floor, beginning a long association as a drug store.
Joe Ryan and Company opened a drug store in Miami and later in Globe in 1920, with William Ryan. They later formed a partnership with Larry Evans in 1907, and developed the Ryan-Evans chain of drug stores which grew to 32 drugstores before being sold to Revco in the mid-1950s.
Ryan-Evans moved from this location (above) to the Amster Building sometime in the 30’s. The Pharmacy was well known for the quality of it’s merchandise from fine cigars to perfumes from the East Coast.
When REVCO purchased Ryan-Evans in the ’60s it went thru a succession of names including Rexall, Revco and RxPlus.
Eventually this location was sold to John Olmsted, a pharmacist with hometown ties and facilities in California and Arizona. Olmsted operated the Palace HealthMart Pharmacy in this location until 2016 when it was sold to CVS Pharmacy.
